Chris Faiers
Chris Faiers (born 1948) is a Canadian poet and librarian, and the founder of Unfinished Monument Press. Life Faiers was born in Hamilton, Ontario. His family emigrated to the southern United States when he was 6. Although a Canadian citizen by birth, he was eligible for the draft for the Vietnam War as a resident alien. Faiers became an anti-war activist in Miami, Florida, attending demonstrations, organizing a campus group and publishing an underground newsletter. Around 1968 Faiers began writing haiku poetry under the tutelage of Eric Amann, the publisher of Haiku magazine. He left the U.S. forever in June 1969. Faiers lived for 2 years in the largest commune in the United Kingdom, the derelict Eel Pie Island Hotel in Twickenham. Eel Pie Dharma: a memoir/haibun tells the story of his explorations and adventures in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He returned to Canada in 1972 and joined the anti-imperialist Canadian Liberation Movement. In the CLM he met poets Milton Acorn and James Deahl and resumed writing poetry. Literary activities In addition to writing haiku, lyrical and political poetry, Faiers founded Unfinished Monument Press in 1978. He hosted a poetry reading series at the Main Street Library in Toronto, Ontario, and has been a proponent of Canadian haiku. Faiers was also a founding member of the Canadian Poetry Association, with Deahl, Shaunt Basmajian, and Wayne Ray, and a founding member of Haiku Canada, with Eric Amann, George Swede, Margaret Saunders, and others. He moved to the Kawartha Lakes area of Ontario in 1989. He worked at the library in Stirling, Ontario for 10 years. Recognition In 1987 Faiers was the inaugural recipient of the Milton Acorn People's Poetry Award for Foot Through the Ceiling: Poems and haiku (1986). Publications Poetry *''Cricket Formations'' (haiku). Richmond, UK: C & C Printing, 1969.Literary Biography (poetry) - Chris Faiers, Eel Pie Gardens. Web, Aug. 4, 2014. *''Guest in a Garden'' (haiku). Richmond, UK: C & C Printing, 1969. *''Dominion Day in Jail: Poems''. Toronto: Unfinished Monument Press, 1978. *''College Streetcar Runs All Night''. Toronto: Unfinished Monument Press, 1979. *''White Rasta''. Toronto: Unfinished Monument Press, 1980. *''Sleeping in Ruins: Haiku and senryu, 1968-1980''. Toronto: Unfinished Monument Press, 1981. *''Unacknowledged Legislator''. Vancouver: Blewointmentpress, 1981. *''White Rasta in Wintertime''. Toronto: Unfinished Monument Press, 1982. *''Island Women''. Scarborough, ON: HMS Press, 1983. *''Five Minutes Ago They Dropped the Bomb''. Toronto: Unfinished Monument Press, 1984. *''Foot Through the Ceiling: Poems and haiku''. Toronto: Aya Press /Mercury Press, 1986. *''Mr. Library Man'' (broadsheet). Aylmer, QC: Haiku Canada, 1988. *''13 Bohemian Dreams''. Toronto: Unfinished Monument Press, 1988. *''Moon City: 20 haiku / senryu''. Edmonton, AB: Greensleeve Publishing, 1989. *''Small Press Lynx'' (with Mark McCawley). Toronto: United Monument Press / Edmonton, AB: Greensleeve Editions, 1991. *''Zen River: Poems and haibun''. Brighton, ON: Hidden Brook Press, 2008. Non-fiction *''Eel Pie Dharma: A memoir / haibun. Toronto: Unfinished Monument Press, 1990 **also published as ''Eel Pie Dharma: A hippie memoir / haibun. Brighton, ON: Hidde Brook Press, 2012. Edited *''The Unfinished Anthology, Volume I''. Toronto: Unfinished Monument Press, 1984. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Chris Faiers, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Aug. 4, 2014. See also *List of Canadian poets References *CPA History *Discussions with Canadian poets by Wayne Ray Notes External links ;Poems *"Christy and I Share an Intersection" *Chris Faiers poems at Eel Pie Gardens: "Five Minutes Ago They Dropped the Bomb," "the fire has come down from the mountain," "In Memory of Jon Penner," "Picnic with Al," "Reflections on the Good People of Tarnished" ;Books *Chris Faiers at Amazon.ca ;About *Literary Biography (poetry) - Chris Faiers *Chris Faiers Official website *Riffs & Ripples from Zen River Gardens, Faiers' weblog Category:Canadian poets Category:English-language haiku poets Category:Living people Category:1948 births Category:20th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets